A Virtual Forum: Navigating Through Crisis - Water Education ...
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Water Education Foundation’s
Colorado River Symposium
A Virtual Forum: Navigating Through Crisis
September 23, 2021
Speaker Biographies (in order of appearance)
Jennifer Bowles
Jennifer Bowles was named Executive Director of the Water Education Foundation in March 2014. A veteran
journalist, Jenn worked as a reporter and editor at The Associated Press in the Los Angeles bureau for 10 years.
She later became the environmental reporter at The Press-Enterprise, garnering awards for her coverage of
water issues in California and the Colorado River Basin during a nine-year stint. She joined Best Best & Krieger
LLP in 2009, where she worked as a writer and communications strategist with some of the state’s leading water
law attorneys. Jenn has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and history from the University of Southern California
and completed a year-long Scripps Fellowship in Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado,
Boulder.
Camille Calimlim Touton
Camille Calimlim Touton is Deputy Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Prior to her appointment in
2021, she served as professional staff for the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. She
was the staff lead on the resiliency provisions enacted as part of the Water Resources Development Act of 2020.
Her congressional experience also includes serving as professional staff for Interior’s authorization committees –
the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the House Natural Resources Committee. She also
served as Interior’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science under the Obama administration. She
holds bachelor’s degrees in engineering (civil) and communication studies, and a master’s degree in public
policy.
Nick Gray
Nick Gray is Programs Director for the Water Education Foundation, where he manages workshops, conferences
and tours of key water regions and topics across California and the Southwest. Before joining the Foundation in
the summer of 2018, Nick spent 15 years involved in formal and informal science education as a science teacher
in the classroom and as the education director of a science museum. He has also been involved with regional
science communication organizations, including Capital Science Communicators. Nick has a bachelor’s degree in
biology from the University of Dayton in Ohio.
Jim Prairie
Jim Prairie is a Hydrologic Engineer who has worked for the Bureau of Reclamation since 2000. He is stationed at
the University of Colorado’s Center for Advanced Decision Support for Water and Environmental Systems
(CADSWES). He has extensive experience directing and coordinating research, development and modeling
projects. He leads applied research in mid-term operations and long-term water resource planning, climate
variability and decision support under uncertainty. Jim directs river basin modeling technical teams and oversees
the consumptive use, natural flow and natural salinity development programs for the upper Colorado River
Basin. He received his doctorate in civil engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder and a bachelor’s
degree in environmental resource engineering from the State University of New York College of Environmental
Science and Forestry.
1Adam Arellano
Adam Arellano is the Vice President of Power Marketing for Western Area Power Administration’s Colorado
River Storage Project Management Center (CRSP-MC) in Montrose, Colorado. Adam began his federal career at
WAPA in 2004 while attending the University of Colorado School of Law. After graduating, Adam worked in
WAPA’s Office of General Counsel, where he successfully handled a wide variety of cases and issues. In 2009,
Adam was selected to solely represent the CRSP-MC through many issues, including the negotiation of the 2025
Salt Lake City Integrated Project Marketing Plan and the Glen Canyon Dam Long-Term Experimental and
Management Plan. In 2020, Adam became a recovering lawyer and joined the CRSP-MC.
Bill Hasencamp
Bill Hasencamp is the Manager of Colorado River Resources for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California, where he develops and manages water supply programs to augment Metropolitan’s Colorado River
supplies. He has been with Metropolitan for 20 years, negotiating transfer agreements with irrigations districts,
exchange agreements, and funding new water supply projects that have doubled Metropolitan’s Colorado River
water supplies. In 2007, Hasencamp negotiated and worked with other states to develop the Intentionally
Created Surplus Program, which allows Metropolitan to store up to 1.5 million acre-feet of conserved water in
Lake Mead at no cost. Bill is one of California’s representatives to the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control
Forum. Bill has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from California State University, Long Beach, and a
master’s degree in business from Pepperdine University.
Jennifer Pitt
Jennifer Pitt is the Colorado River Program Director for the National Audubon Society. She joined Audubon in
December 2015 to advise the organization’s strategies to protect and restore rivers throughout the Colorado
River Basin. At Audubon, Jennifer continues her work on United States-Mexico collaboration to restore the long-
desiccated Colorado River Delta. Previously she worked as the Colorado River Project director at the
Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Before joining EDF in 1999, Jennifer worked on river restoration for the
National Park Service and as a legislative aide to Congressman Mike Kopetski. She also has worked as a ranger at
Mesa Verde and Sequoia national parks. Jennifer has a master’s degree in environmental science from Yale
University.
Anne Castle
Anne Castle is a Senior Fellow at the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the
Environment at the University of Colorado, focusing on Western water issues. She has recently authored reports
on urgent Colorado River policy issues and recommended infrastructure projects to improve overall
sustainability in the Colorado River Basin. From 2009 to 2014, Anne was assistant secretary for water and
science at the Department of the Interior, where she oversaw water and science policy for the department and
had responsibility for the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Geological Survey. While at Interior, she
spearheaded the department’s WaterSMART program, which provides federal leadership on the path toward
sustainable water supplies. Anne also provided hands-on leadership of Colorado River issues and was the chair
of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Work Group and a champion of Minute 319 between the United
States and Mexico. The fact that the Colorado River descended further and further into drought during her
tenure is generally believed not to be her fault. Anne is a recovering lawyer, having practiced water law for 28
years with the Rocky Mountain law firm of Holland & Hart.
2Ted Cooke
Ted Cooke was appointed General Manager of the Central Arizona Project (CAP) in March 2016 and is
responsible for carrying out the board of directors’ policy directives and overseeing all operational aspects of
CAP. The Central Arizona Project is Arizona's largest water provider, transporting and delivering approximately
one-half of Arizona's Colorado River apportionment to the interior of the state each year. Previously, he was
interim general manager and deputy general manager, finance and administration. Ted joined CAP in 1999. His
four-decade career in utilities, technology, finance and operations has also included management and executive
positions at Xerox Corporation, Luz International Limited and OESI Power Corporation. Ted serves on the
Governor’s Water Augmentation, Innovation and Conservation Council and the advisory boards of the Arizona
State University Kyl Center for Water Policy and the University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center. Ted
is executive chair of the Water Utility Climate Alliance. He earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Loyola
Marymount University, a master’s degree in operations management and management science from UCLA and a
doctorate in management from California Coast University.
Gene Shawcroft
Gene Shawcroft leads the new six-member Colorado River Authority of Utah as chair and represents Utah on all
Colorado River issues as Utah’s Commissioner on the Upper Colorado River Commission. He is also the General
Manager for Central Utah Water Conservancy District, the state’s largest water conservancy district. After
graduating from Brigham Young University with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering, he joined
the State of Utah at the Division of Water Resources. Shawcroft came to the Central Utah Water Conservancy
District in 1991 and served as a project engineer, assistant general manager, deputy general manager, and was
appointed general manager in January of 2015.
Peter Nelson
Peter Nelson, who currently serves as Chair of the Colorado River Board of California, has been a member of the
Coachella Valley Water District Board of Directors since 2000. Six of those years were as president, and four as
vice president of the board. He served on the Salton Sea Authority from 2000 to 2014, and currently serves on
the California Farm Water Coalition. He also served on the California Desert Grape Administrative Committee, a
federal marketing order, from 2008-2012, and for six years with the Coachella Valley Resource Conservation
District. In addition, Peter served on the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Farm Advisory
Group. He is a graduate of California State University, Fresno with a degree in agricultural business. Peter
participates in groups ranging from the Association of California Water Agencies to the Colorado River Water
Users Association. He has represented the district to a wide variety of state, federal, locally elected and water
industry officials.
Manuel Heart
Manuel Heart is chairman of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in southwest Colorado and chair of the Ten Tribes
Partnership, a coalition of Upper and Lower Basin Tribes that have come together to raise their voices in the
management of the Colorado River as water challenges persist. Mr. Heart was raised on the Ute Mountain
Reservation in Towaoc, Colo. He was first elected into Tribal Council in 1995, and since then he has served as
chairman, vice-chairman, treasurer and secretary/custodian. He is a strong advocate for education, housing,
water and economic development. Mr. Heart is also recognized by many Native American organizations for his
leadership and service on a national and state level as former Area Vice President of the National Congress of
American Indians for the Southwest region, Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs, Utah Tribal Leaders, New
Mexico Indian Affairs, Colorado Energy Resource Tribes, Albuquerque Area Indian Health Board and Native
American Finance Officers Association. He is happily married with six children and 16 grandchildren.
3Season Martin
Season Martin is a founding partner of Martin & McCoy, a water and natural resources consulting firm based in
Tucson, Ariz. She holds a bachelor’s degree in geology and environmental studies from Whitman College, and a
master’s degree in environmental science and management with a specialization in economics and policy of the
environment from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she was a member of the first cohort of
Sustainable Water Markets fellows. Prior to co-founding Martin & McCoy LLC, she served as the water projects
and sustainable finance director for The Nature Conservancy’s Colorado River Program, was a restoration
coordinator at the Tamarisk Coalition, focusing on building collaborative partnerships to implement riparian
restoration throughout the West, and worked for the Grand Canyon Trust in the forests of southern Utah. She
resides in Tucson, Ariz., where she cultivates her cactus garden and enjoys gatherings to celebrate the desert.
Pete Silva
Pete S. Silva is President of Silva-Silva International, an engineering consulting company specializing in water
policy and regulatory affairs. He has more than 40 years of experience in the water and wastewater fields and is
an expert on U.S.-Mexico border affairs in these areas. Pete served two years as the assistant administrator for
water at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and six years as the vice chair of the State Water Resources
Control Board in California. In addition, Pete was appointed during the Clinton administration to the board of
directors of the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC). He has held positions at the U.S.
International Boundary & Water Commission, the city of San Diego and Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California. In addition to his consulting work, he is also involved in advocating for the involvement of Latinos in
water policy matters at the state and national levels. Pete is a founding partner of Water Education for Latino
Leaders (WELL) and assists California Rural Legal Assistance to expand its role in working with underserved
communities. Pete received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from California State Polytechnic University,
Pomona. He is a registered professional engineer (California) and a board-certified environmental engineer. Pete
is a member of the Water Education Foundation Board of Directors.
Maria-Elena Giner
Maria-Elena Giner was appointed by President Biden Aug. 20, 2021, as the United States Commissioner of the
International Boundary and Water Commission. Dr. Giner, the second woman and first Latina to hold the post,
previously served as general manager of the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC), an institution
that developed environmental infrastructure along the U.S.-Mexico border in association with the North
American Development Bank. During her tenure at the BECC, she focused on policies that addressed U.S.-Mexico
cooperation on water, energy, and climate change. She has published extensively on water policy and
transboundary bilateral cooperation. She earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Loyola
Marymount University in Los Angeles, a master's degree in business administration from the University of Texas
at El Paso, and a doctorate in public policy from the University of Texas at Austin. She is also a registered
professional engineer, first-generation college graduate, and daughter of an immigrant.
Adriana Reséndez
Adriana Reséndez is the Commissioner of the Mexican Section of the International Boundary and Water
Commission, and the first woman to head the commission. She was appointed Sept. 15, 2021, by Mexican
Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard. She has 23 years of experience in the IBWC in the Operations and Engineering
areas, as chief engineer of operations and deputy director for engineering for the Colorado River. Over the
course of her career in the IBWC, she has participated in various negotiations and in the interinstitutional and
binational coordination needed for carrying out key projects in the border region. She has an undergraduate
degree in civil engineering from the Autonomous University of Chihuahua, where she also studied toward a
master's degree in water management in arid zones with a specialization in water use and quality.
4Carly Jerla
Carly Jerla is the Senior Water Resources Program Manager at the Bureau of Reclamation. Her career has been
devoted to improving the technical foundation for Reclamation’s operational decisions across the Colorado River
Basin, as well as enhancing partners’ and stakeholders’ ability to engage in basin decision-making. Jerla joined
Reclamation in 2005 as a graduate student at the University of Colorado’s Center for Advanced Decision Support
for Water and Environmental Systems (CADSWES) in Boulder, Colorado. Currently, she leads a modeling and
research team based at CADSWES, which has responsibility for research and development of modeling
applications and decision support for water operations and planning in the Colorado River Basin. She obtained a
bachelor’s degree in civil and environmental engineering, and engineering and public policy from Carnegie
Mellon University, and a master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Colorado.
Tanya Trujillo
Tanya Trujillo serves as the Assistant Secretary for Water and Science at the U.S Department of Interior.
She most recently worked as a project director with the Colorado River Sustainability Campaign where she
coordinated efforts among state, federal, tribal and local agencies to promote efficient water management in
Western states. Before that, she served as the executive director of the Colorado River Board of California. She
has served as senior counsel to the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and as counselor to
the Assistant Secretary for Water and Science at Interior. She received a bachelor’s degree from Stanford
University and graduated from the University of Iowa College of Law.
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